Celebrating the rise of its Academic Performance Index scores, Simi Valley Unified School District has initiated a new spotlight program titled "It Can Be Done." The program highlights schools that saw their recent API scores increase and allows them to share the reasons for their success.

"It is the hard work of our teachers and students under the guidance of our principals that has made this possible," said Kathryn Scroggin, superintendent of the Simi Valley Unified School District.

The API is part of the 1999 Public Schools Accountability Act and is used to measure the performance of schools throughout California.

During last week's board meeting, Abraham Lincoln Elementary School and Sinaloa Middle School were given an opportunity to share their formulas for success.

Abraham Lincoln Elementary School, which has a student population of 458, received a score of 775, an increase of 16 points from its 2005 score of 759.

"I have a fine group of students and staff," said Deborah R. Riley, principal of Abraham Lincoln Elementary. "My staff is not only data-oriented, they believe that the kids can achieve, and when you believe, you truly can achieve."

Riley attributes her school's recent success to her staff's accurate assessment of education data. Lincoln Elementary teachers are trained in research-based programs such as EduSoft, a management program that allows teachers to collect and analyze data on student performance. The staff assesses the progress of the students on a yearly basis and creates programs to address areas that need focus.

"We allow the students to take very few breaks," Riley said. "Assemblies only take place at the end of the day with families."

Abraham Lincoln has also implemented 30 minutes of daily English instruction, and a reading intervention program to increase students' abilities.

Leslie Frank, principal of Sinaloa Middle School, also expressed excitement over her school's improved performance. Sinaloa scored 801 on the API tests, an improvement of nine points from last year.

"Raising scores requires a lot of thoughtful consideration because you are working with dynamic human beings," Frank said.

According to Frank, Sinaloa attributes its success to the teachers, curriculum, department collaboration and intervention programs. Departments meet at least once a month to discuss overall trends and design new units to ensure student progress.

Frank said that when the math department discovered children were having difficulty understanding powers and exponents, an entirely new unit devoted to the subject was organized. Students' scores began to improve.

Younger teachers at Sinaloa Middle School are assigned mentors in an effort to provide the staff with quality training, she said.

"Student achievement is a priority with our staff, and we focus on correcting weaknesses. We emphasize having our students become familiar with state standards and incorporating them into our daily lessons," Frank said.

Frank also attributed much of her middle school's success to the excellent preparation students receive from Simi's elementary programs.